One reliever off the free agent board, a prospect flashback and the stat of the day

Heading into free agency, the Orioles, Red Sox and Yankees all had one key reliever that could have hit the open market. Now that number has been reduced from three players to two.

While Andrew Miller and David Robertson are likely to test the market and accept offers, Koji Uehara will not. The former Orioles right-hander signed a two-year deal worth $18 million to stay with the Red Sox.

That seems to be too much money to pay for a reliever that struggled late last season and will turn 40 next April. At 41, the Red Sox will still be looking for outs from Koji.

Coming off a 2013 season when he posted an ERA of 1.09 ERA, an 0.56 WHIP and was a playoff hero, he went 6-5 with a 2.52 ERA in 2014 with 26 saves in 31 chances. Koji had an outstanding 80-to-8 strikeout-to-walks ratio over 64 1/3 innings.

But in August and September, Uehara had an ERA of 5.74 and an average against of .313. He saved five games in eight chances while allowing four homers over 15 2/3 innings.

Did he just tire or was that a look at a pitcher that was losing his effectiveness, aging and may struggle to get it back? The Red Sox are gambling a few dollars here.

But this is also an indication that Boston is very much in the reloading and not rebuilding business and Boston could pursue Miller as well as several other free agents. The Sox are looking to go from worst to first for the second time in three years.

Miller is younger, throws harder, left-handed and clearly has plenty left in his tank. If Koji got $18 million, how much will Miller get?

Prospect flashback: After the San Francisco Giants won their third World Series in five years, Baseball America took a look back at the Giants' top 10 prospects from five years ago.

The Giants top 10 looked like this in 2009:

1) Madison Bumgarner, lhp
2) Buster Posey, c
3) Angel Villalona, 1b
4) Tim Alderson, rhp
5) Nick Noonan, 2b
6) Ehire Adrianza, ss
7) Conor Gillaspie, 3b
8) Rafael Rodriguez, of
9) Scott Barnes, lhp
10) Sergio Romo, rhp

Teams can do real well when their top prospects hit big. It is one thing to produce an everyday regular or even an All-Star talent on the farm, but the Giants' top two here became National League MVP along with a top-of-rotation starter and now World Series hero.

While Bumgarner and Posey were first-round picks out of high school and college, Romo has done well, too, and was a 28th-round draft pick.

Just for fun, here is the Orioles' top 10 prospects list from 2009:

1) Matt Wieters, c
2) Chris Tillman, rhp
3) Brian Matusz, lhp
4) Jake Arrieta, rhp
5) Nolan Reimold, of
6) Brandon Erbe, rhp
7) Billy Rowell, 3b
8) Troy Patton, lhp
9) Brandon Snyder, 1b
10) Kam Mickolio, rhp

The Orioles have done pretty well here, too, getting most of those players to the majors and their top two have been All-Stars.

Stat of the day: This is the second day in a row we are doing this - makes it a regular feature here so far. Here are the American League leaders from 2014 in batting average with runners in scoring position:

.376 - Michael Brantley, Cleveland
.360 - David Murphy, Cleveland
.355 - Adam Eaton, Chicago
.343 - Dioner Navarro, Toronto
.339 - Robinson Cano, Seattle

The leading Orioles players in this stat were Adam Jones, ranking 14th at .320 and J.J. Hardy, who was 19th at .315.